The manufacturers of high speed, mass-flow food sorting devices have continually endeavored to develop devices, and related systems to readily identify acceptable and unacceptable objects or products travelling within a stream of products to be sorted, thus allowing a sorting apparatus to identify, and then remove, undesirable objects so as to produce a homogeneous, resulting product stream which is more useful for food processors, and/or other end users. Heretofore, attempts which have been made to enhance the ability to image objects effectively, in real time, have met with somewhat limited success.
While many advancements have been made in this technology area, there remains a long felt need to increase the ability for these previous sorting devices to detect electromagnetic radiation in selected bands such as in the near infrared spectrum as well as increase the sensitivity of detectors which detect, for example, red light and also emissions such as fluorescence which may be emitted by chlorophyll which is present in in various varieties of agricultural products which are being inspected.
While the use of prior art photomultiplier tubes to detect electromagnetic radiation have worked with some degree of success, it has long been recognized that photomultiplier tubes also display high noise or interference in the electrical signals that they generate. Still further, the bandwidth within which the typical photomultiplier tubes operate is considered relatively large. Consequently, developers of the aforementioned prior art sorting devices have sought an alternative to the use of photomultiplier tubes, and which may be useful in detecting the aforementioned bands of light in a manner not possible, heretofore. A sorting apparatus which avoids the detriments associated with the various prior art teachings and practices previously used in the art, is the subject matter of the present application.